The purpose of this study is to develop a group counseling program for middle school freshmen’s school life adaptation and verify the effectiveness of the program. The program used in the study was developed by this researcher with a prior survey of 1st-grade middle school students and middle school teachers and theoretical backgrounds based and with existing school-related group counseling programs considered. For the purpose, this researcher surveyed 1st-grade students of S middle school located in Busan, all of whom were voluntary, and classified them into experimental and control groups, each consisting of 12 students, or 6 boys and 6 girls. The experimental group participated in total 10 sessions of the program with 60 minutes per session. Then the group was treated with group counseling for 2 days from March 26 to 27. During the same period, the control group didn’t receive any treatment. To verify the effectiveness of the program. the researcher applied interpersonal relation skill, self-efficacy and school life adaptation tests to both of the groups before and after group counseling. Data obtained here were statistically processed using SPSS 10.0 Program to know mean and standard deviation values for each of the measures. Difference between the experimental and control groups in the mean of scores from interpersonal relation skill, self-efficacy and school life adaptation tests were examined through ANCOVA with scores from the pre-test as covariates. Differences between the two groups in scores for the measures and in scores from pre- and post-tests were verified through t-test. Hypotheses used here were verified with the significance level of p<.05.
Results of the study can be summarized as follows: First, those who participated in the group counseling program for school life adaptation showed a significant improvement in score for interpersonal relation skills than the control group who did not participate. Second, those who participated in the group counseling program for school life adaptation showed a significant improvement in score for self-efficacy than the control group who did not participate. Third, those who participated in the group counseling program for school life adaptation showed a significant improvement in score for school life adaptation than the control group who did not participate.
In conclusion, the group counseling program for school life adaptation is effective in improving the interpersonal relation skills, self-efficacy and school life adaptation of those who just became middle school students.
Key Words : Group counseling program, Middle school freshmen, School life adaptation, Interpersonal relation skills, Self-efficacy